Just the facts, ma'am. Knoema's World Data Atlas provides a dizzying array of data about the countries of the world. Sort either by country (from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe), or by topic (agriculture to water). Look at zoomable, color coded maps, and analyze rankings by topic. The interface is simple and direct, so if you are just looking for a statistic, you will find it quickly and easily. If you are looking at masses of authentic data to analyze or compare, you'll find that too. Click to create comparisons among any 2 to 3 countries. There is an introductory video available, hosted on YouTube. If YouTube is blocked at your school, you may need to view this video at home.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this for student research, whether it be for individual country data or for comparative data by topic. Use the maps on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) to provide a visual representation of the data. This is a great source for authentic data for students to practice their analytic skills, or just to find out what the GDP of Antigua and Barbuda is. This is a resource that will see frequent use. Share it during math units on data, as well, so students have authentic numbers to "play with." Have them write their own data problems and questions for classmates to solve. Challenge your most able student to determine why two countries are so different.

Interactive Graphic Organizers help to gather thoughts, visualize, understand, or organize. Find interactive graphic organizers from categories such as identifying/organizing details, order and sequence, cause and effect, process diagrams, persuasive position support, vocabulary, and many others. The selected organizer will download in PDF format. The features of the form are: interactive form fields, highlighting, adding mark-up, commenting, and saving it all. Find accompanying teaching notes for each organizer by clicking on the link in the paragraph at the top of the page. The teacher guide has detailed lessons and suggested uses.

In the Classroom

Mark this site on your class web page, put it on your task bar, and add to all student computers. Demonstrate by using and creating your customized graphic organizer. Turn it into PDF format and save or print. Get students in the habit of using graphic organizers to improve achievement, organization, and details.

Raindrop.io is a smart bookmarking tool to "collect" online and media content. It is available as a mobile app, as a web tool, and as a browser extension for Safari, Chrome, Opera, or Firefox. After adding the extension to your browser, a couple of clicks saves and organizes content into thematic collections. Collections can include videos and other content. Watch the tour videos to see how it works. Add tags, and drag and drop bookmarks between collections as you wish. Browse your collections using the search bar and keywords. Use Raindrop's social networking feature to create and share collections or find and subscribe to others' collections. Receive a weekly email digest of your bookmarks, or turn that feature off.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Raindrop.io to create a bank of resources to use for each content unit within your subject or your class. Have students download and use the materials you provide via Raindrop to make their own projects, complete webquests, or to learn independently. Create a separate class account for students to curate their own lists of bookmarks and resources. Use this tool to compile web treasure hunts to learn or introduce any topic within your content area. Collect links to informational texts for students to read "closely" a la CCSS. With younger students, create collections of audio books for children to view and listen to. Share simple interactives teaching colors, numbers and more for a computer center. Have students create their own Raindrop as a place to store links for a project. Share a link to your Raindrop on your class webpage. Save pictures of class activities with a Raindrop collection to share with parents. Encourage your gifted students to curate collections of media and articles above the level of current curriculum or for individual research on related topics they are interested in. Share these "advanced" collections with all students to spark personal learning.

Ask and answer any question with the Q&A Wiki. This site is a classic example of using the "wisdom (or not-so-wisdom) of the crowd." Using the Wiki format, user-contributors amend answers with an improved response if desired. Type a question in the search bar or search and browse through different sections such as food, health, or politics. Find basic "how to" information and directions for questions asked by others. Registration isn't required to search and browse the site. However, registration using email or social networking links allows users to post and answer questions. At the time of this review, there were no offensive topics. However, not all topics are "classroom-appropriate."This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Share the Q&A Wiki with students on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and explore answers to classroom questions. Post a question, and challenge students to share their response. Use choices of questions from this site as writing prompts for informational writing. Have students find good (and not-so-good) examples of how-to responses as they learn to write their own step by step directions. Challenge students to explore the site to find incorrect or incomplete answers to questions and use this as part of a lesson on evaluating Internet sources. How can you decide whether the information is accurate? Provide this link on your class website for students (and families) to use together.

The Free Dictionary is much more than a dictionary; it also includes a thesaurus, encyclopedias, a literature reference library, and lots more! Browse the home page to find Word of the Day, Article of the Day, In the News, Quotations, Today's Birthday and Holiday, and Hangman. Choose the Spelling Bee to test spelling skills in levels. Your ESL/ELL students can discover and "play" with English words using this site. Browse to find dictionaries for many other languages and specialized needs such as medical and legal dictionaries.

In the Classroom

Set this site as the home page on classroom computers for students to read and find interesting articles and games. Create an account to customize the page to display information to suit class needs. Use information found on this site for quotes, interesting trivia, and much more. Display on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and discuss articles and information with your class.

Find a complete resource for how to write a research paper, including simple step-by-step directions, suggested resources, and ways to avoid plagiarism. This site also includes how to format a research paper, write footnotes, create endnotes, and make parenthetical references, with examples for all. There are tips for public speaking and how to use search engines. The menu at the top has links for Literature Guides, Extra Resources, and the Dewey Decimal System.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge as you start a research project. With younger students, you may want the class to go through each step together before beginning the next step. However, let gifted students work ahead. The beauty of this site is that it is great for classroom differentiation for independent work. With older students, you may want to show them the different steps and have them start where they think they need help and share examples. Be sure to post a link to the site for students and parents to access at home.

Creative Routines, a simple infographic, analyzes the self-reported daily routines of 16 creative geniuses from history. Traditional lessons on time management are so predictable. This infographic makes creative time management personal (and more meaningful). Did they get the recommended 8 hours of sleep? Did they exercise regularly? When were they most productive? What did they do for fun?

In the Classroom

Display the infographic on an interactive whiteboard as a springboard for discussion about time management, creativity, study (or work) habits, perseverance, or multi-tasking. Surprise! Mozart spent 0 hours checking his Facebook account! The site might also be instructive in a discussion about what habits contribute to creativity or as information about the lives of famous people. Using these 16 24-hour clocks as exemplars, students can make their own "creative routines" clocks for comparison. As you talk about creativity or study skills, encourage your students to pay attention to the time of day that is best for them to generate creative ideas, write, draw, write music, etc. They may find that altering their routine can have a positive impact on both grades and creative satisfaction.

Creating and formatting bibliographies and citations can be one of the most frustrating barriers students face in doing research, and Writing House will take the pain out of the process. Simply choose the format (MLA, APA, Chicago or Harvard) and enter some information about the source. Writing House searches the OCLC WorldCat for sources that match. Select the source and add it to your bibliography. When you're finished, simply download the completed bibliography. The interface is clean and uncomplicated. There is no need for an account or login. Several brief articles cover the basics of citations and bibliographies. A word counter function is also available for those using a word processor that doesn't do that automatically.

In the Classroom

You may want to introduce this resource after teaching students how to do citations "manually," as Writing House really does all the work for them. Once you have shared it in class, add a link to your teacher webpage for students who are working on research from home. Writing House will be particularly useful for students who really struggle with organization and detail. They need to have only the author's name or the book title to access a complete citation. You will also find it useful for your own grad classes!

Finding Dulcinea is a tool that selects and annotates credible, trustworthy websites into an online newspaper format. In addition to current content, the site also offers over 550 web guides providing resources for topics such as health, teacher resources, and global warming. Be sure to check out the Beyond the Headlines section of the site for in-depth looks at topics such as Why Do We Have Daylight Savings Time? View the site tour video located here to understand the set-up and how to use the site.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Share articles from Finding Dulcinea with students on your interactive whiteboard when discussing current events. Create a link on classroom computers for students to read on their own. Have students create a simple infographic sharing their findings from any article using Easel.ly, reviewed here or Venngage reviewed here.

Explore statistics and data about what it takes to be happy in different locations. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you have the best life? Of course, it all depends on what you think contributes to a better life. The OECD presents the opportunity to choose from among 11 indices related to happiness. Rank them in order of importance to you, and then see graphically which countries in the world have the best quality of life based on those considerations. Want to have a high income? Then the United States ranks first in that category. Is the cost and quality of available housing what matters? Norway ranks first in that category. Other indices include Environment, Education, Safety, Work-Life Balance, Health, and Jobs. A slider bar on each index allows you to select your priorities and then watch as the countries realign themselves according to your preferences.

In the Classroom

A great classroom discussion starter, and perfect for displaying on an interactive whiteboard, the Better Life Index allows students to consider and debate what makes for a "better life." And once (or if) they can reach a consensus on those factors, where could that life be found in the world? Of course, once you discover that people are healthiest, for example, in Australia, what does that mean? Why are they healthy there? What community, government, and institutional factors make Australia healthy? Do they make choices other countries don't? This is a wonderful tool for guiding discussion about the public policy decisions made by citizens and governments, and how those decisions affect the quality of life. It would also provide powerful information for persuasive writing or debates. If you talk about utopias and dystopias, this is another way for students to decide what the criteria are for each. If you study world cultures, this site can provide a whole different lens to promote crosscultural understanding. Assign students to compare and contrast factors that matter most to them across multiple countries. Gifted students who are designing an "ideal civilization" can find meaningful data here to use as part of their plans.

Brief.ly is a simple way to share a "bundle" of links at the same time. Enter up to 30 links and captions you want to share (one per line or click the wrench for more options). Brief.ly will generate a unique URL. When opened, a Table of Contents page lists the sites included. When you open the bundle, each site appears and tabs appear along the top of the page that allow you to easily jump from one recommended site to the next. This site is very easy to use and helpful for all ages, as long as they can read. With your membership, you can edit the contents of your list later, without resending it or changing the single link.

In the Classroom

Brief.ly is a lifesaver for every classroom, teacher, or school. Whenever you are sharing multiple sites at centers, during small or whole group presentations, or even sites gathered for a research projects, Brief.ly takes away frustration and saves time! Save different content areas, subjects, or study links in one simple click. Gather all grade level websites on your school webpage, and list all classes. Unclutter your own class webpage or blog with just a few links. Sending links to parents or colleagues could not be any easier! Collaboration within classes, groups, or home is a snap! Improve organization for yourself and your class. As students work on group projects, they can share their link list easily. Use a class account so students do not have to register, and you can watch what they are using for sources.

NCES Kids' Zone offers enrichment and informational data. Explore This Day in History, updated daily. Take a poll and compare your own answers with others. Try your problem solving skills with the mindbender. Learn (and use) the word of the day. The Dare to Compare button leads to short quizzes where you can compare your knowledge with others. You can also explore data about your local schools and libraries and even find college information. Note that the upper menus do not work in all browsers, so not all areas of the site are readily accessible.

In the Classroom

Strike an interest in your school and community by finding out where you rank. Investigate college choices. After short quizzes, have a daily comparison of your students to see how they compare in civics, economics, geography, history, mathematics, and science at multiple grade levels. Inspire students to collect data and make their own graphs about school wide topics. Have students create an online graph using Amblegraph (reviewed here). Dig into probability problems to discover the odds.

4 Free Photos offers public domain and free stock images. Preview and download the photos at no cost. Use the search feature to find the image you are looking for. The images on this site are contributed by the photographers for open sharing under Creative Commons. Be aware, there are photos for sale (clearly labeled). Some of the links for "More Free Photos" and other ads take you to outside sites. You may want to advise students to avoid those links. Note that all uses of the photos are supposed to be accompanied by the link to the license (available on each photo's display page).This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Starting a lesson on copyright? With so much social media and access to almost anything on the web, it is important to teach students about copyright and about owner's rights. Use this site to search for photos for presentations, photos, projects, or research. For your ESL/ELL students or speech/language, use the images for them to create their own visual dictionary. World language teachers can also challenge students to use images to illustrate vocabulary or accompany writing. Use images for writing prompts or even to create descriptive sentences. Have one student describe the image as another sketches the image. Now compare the described image to the real image. To find more Creative Commons images for student projects (with credit, of course), try Compfight, reviewed here or PhotoPin, reviewed here.

Dictionarist is an online talking dictionary. Type any word into the search box. See a definition and click the icon to hear the pronunciation and view a translation into several languages. Click on a country flag at the top of the page to begin with a foreign word to hear the pronunciation and view the translation into different languages, including English. If desired, save preferences for future visits or use the bookmarklets to add Dictionarist to your search provider or Google Toolbar. Be aware: This dictionary includes many words that are not appropriate for the classroom, as it is not abridged for students. Talk about ethical behavior and observe less mature students' searches .This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Save Dictionarist or add the bookmarklet to your computer for use anytime foreign translations might be needed or for correct pronunciation of difficult words. Dictionarist may be especially useful in ESL/ELL classrooms as an online tool for definitions and pronunciations of English terms. This site is very simple to use, even for younger students. Share this site on your class website for families to use to find definitions and pronunciations for difficult words.

This "Read-alouds PLUS" article will show you how you can leverage the power of daily read-alouds in your elementary classroom to practice some Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts while infusing some social studies content, specifically the early colonial period. If you fear that social studies has taken a back seat to tested content or that students may be losing a sense of our history and heritage, this is a way to fortify your students' knowledge of early American history and heritage together with their skills in reading and writing. The article includes book suggestions as well as discussion questions and writing activities connected to CCSS Standards. Don't miss our other articles on implementing Common Core in elementary. The book suggestions are not necessarily ones your students would read on their own, but nestle in well as read-alouds in social studies curriculum across elementary grades.

In the Classroom

Mark this article in your Favorites and take the book suggestions with you to the library (or search for interlibrary loans) to help "fit" social studies into your read-alouds, making every minute count! Consider using them as part of a "Then and Now" or "Past and Present" focus in kindergarten or first grade, or with middle elementary students as part of a unit related to early settlements or the thirteen colonies. Be sure to look at the suggestions for connecting the read-alouds to CCSS-aligned writing prompts or for short, focused research projects to include as follow-up.

Media Smarts is a comprehensive Canadian site devoted to media literacy and critical thinking skills for children and youth. Browse through several topics such as digital and media literacy to explore articles related to television, Internet, and gender issues. An extensive teacher resource section offers many lessons and resources searchable by grade, subject, and media type. Download lessons in PDF format using links in the lesson description.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site to explore and use with lessons related to digital and media literacy. Share articles on gender and body image with students. Have students find examples on tv and use an online poster creator, such as PicLits, reviewed here to demonstrate examples. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Have students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Venngage, reviewed here.

Create highly stylized map images with this tool. This tool is very similar to the Photoshop layers palette and easily creates map layers using data already available in Open Street Map. Create layers using backgrounds, roads, labels, and satellite imagery. Modify the layers' color, opacity, and brightness. Easily highlight or color portions of the map you want to standout. Share the image you create via Pinterest or Tumblr. Share your map image also by a link. Use precision detail with image overlays and layer effects, even creating masks for other layers. The tool can also be used to create a regular map in the colors you want. This site takes some tinkering to figure out but yields colorful and interesting maps.

In the Classroom

Use to focus on and compare resources found in various communities or geographic locations. Identify where natural resources are concentrated in the world. Compare street design in various communities, concentration of population, and more. Create artistic representations of various areas as a project. Include this tool for your tech savvy students to try as you study different types of maps. Challenge them to create a map that has traditional elements such as terrain, and also uses color and image tools to emphasize or communicate information about a location, such as toxic waste locations or musical "scenes." Art teachers can suggest this tool for students to create geo-based artworks or create images to use in Earth Day posters.

American Memory provides this digital record of American history and creativity through written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. Some of the categories are Advertising, Environment and Conservation, Immigration and American Expansion, Performing Arts, Sports and Recreation, and many others. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that make up America.

In the Classroom

Use American Memory in your study of either state, or United States history providing further primary and secondary resources to bring life into your subject matter. Discover point of view or popular opinion found in the collections. Use on your interactive whiteboard with the class, or even as a resource on projects to give a personal reference. Combine with literature for understanding of a place or time in American history. Look at the year of birth for your students to compare and contrast for today. Use as an example for your year of learning in your subject area or even grade level. Be sure to list as a resource on student computers or your class website.

This special dictionary for language learners has several unique features: definitions, examples, and explanations for natural language words and phrases. It also has constant updates as the "cobuilders" (other contributors) add to it. Read the explanation of the site BEFORE you start to search a word. The larger part of this site also includes tools for Translation, Conjugation, Grammar, and Spell Check (install the Reverso toolbar on your computer). In addition to defining the word or phrase, the dictionary also allows you to click on any blue word or phrase in the definition for more definitions, audio, and sometimes video explanations. There is an option to search for the word in video/text news stories. It pulls up short little blurbs of authentic news stories, some accompanied by video (with the blurb being read) or a picture. Pronunciation is available for all words (click the word, then "speak"). The company that created the site is British, but its dictionary entries include comments on both American and British usage. The site is a collaborative site, so anyone can add new entries. In addition to being useful for any English language learner, there are features available in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, and Portuguese. You can even set up your own vocabulary lists if you want to use this site as a personalized learning tool. Although we didn't find anything inappropriate at this site, you will want to preview this site before sharing with students.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Before turning students loose on this site, especially if their English is weak, show them how to navigate it on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Make it available for all ELL students. Install the Reverso toolbar on your computer to access the dictionary, translator, conjugator, grammar, and spell-checker. If your school computers are "locked down," ask the techies about installing it on at least one class computer to use for reference. Bookmark the site on classroom computers where any World Language instruction takes place. Use this site in World Language classes to enrich your lessons in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, and Portuguese. Share this site with families on for use at home.

Use Flipboard to collect, explore, and share information from many sources, all in a magazine-style format. Flipboard can hold specific articles and images you choose or a dynamic "feed" from a web source such as CNN, a Twitter hashtag, or a favorite blog. Most Flipboard consumers read their magazines on mobile devices, but you can manage and access your magazines from the "web tools" page (the link from this review) on a computer. Create your personal magazine(s) with things you care about: news, staying connected, social networks, and more. Create an account with Flipboard and then connect with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube. Click the More panel to browse other categories and add them to your magazines. Drag the Flipboard button to your bookmarks bar or use the Flipboard app on your smartphone or tablet. Find an article you want to add to your collection? Click the + button next to the article to save it or simply click "Flip It" on your computer's browser toolbar to add that web page to your magazine. Edit your magazines online and share with friends and colleagues. View your RSS feeds or follow your news stream in social media with this magazine-style interface. Most of the tutorial videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home. If you want to share the videos with students, bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Tube Offline, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube. Flipboard is a device agnostic tool. Load the free app on mobile devices.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Create a class Flipboard account and create magazines for each unit studied through the year. Add information that is useful for student understanding, application of concepts, or materials to be used for projects. Create a magazine of great articles and information to read or search through. Consider creating a Flipboard magazine for student current events or happenings. Use this for reports on various topics such as food issues, diseases, political information, cultures around the world, and more. Make a customized "feed" for more advanced information on a topic for your gifted and advanced students. Students can curate a Flipboard of pictures or videos from the web on a certain topic to share with their classmates. Create a Professional Development Flipboard with other teachers. Teacher-librarians may want to work together with classroom teachers to create magazines of certain content for students to use during research units. Challenge your middle and high school gifted students to curate a magazine for themselves on a topic of individual interest, creating a "PLN" they can use for years. For example, a student interested in rocketry can locate and add blogs from rocket scientists, NASA feeds, and more. Talented writers may want to collect feeds from literary publications and author blogs. They will probably also discover related Flipboards created by others. As gifted students' interests change, they can curate other topical "magazines" to keep learning, even if the topics do not fall within the traditional curriculum. You may find that the personalization of learning is something ALL your students want to do.